Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-07-17
Salt in Tom Green.
san Angelo Record.

! For some time it was known hat salt
deposits underlie our country. Large
/ quantities are found ia the country along
the Upper Pecos. The salt lakes near
/ Horsehead crossing have furnished the
Idnches Of Western Tom Green, OF Pre-
/ sidio and other counties with this neces-
sary OF life up to the present. The water
OK the PecOs contains & large quantity Of
salt in solution, and the deposits along
its banks must have been formed by over
flows of the river, leaving g saline solG-
ton. Repeated oyeEhows and evapora-
ton of the recediug waters, forming
the deposits now found in that part
of the country. The subterraneaE
waters supplying the Pzcos f)w-
irg over salt deposits, becomes
Charged with salt and keep ug constantly
the supply Of salt in the river water. Salt
springs are found all over this RfestefB
country, and wells which have been bored
ct different places at considerable depth
at Big Springs, Colorado and in thenefgh-
bOrhCod of San Angelo have struck these
deposits, furnishing proof thsr Immense
quantities of this necessary ar@sfe ere
hidden beneath the surface. Salt is not
limited to Gny section nor to any geOlogi-
cal period. 1t is distributed eli over the
earth and may be found in all sedimenta,y
rocks. Il is direct deposit Of primevsl
oceans or lakes the process having taken
place 10 quits divided from the ocean by
bars or IN lakes. either of them furnish
ing evaporation pans of immense siz1,
the quantity Of the deposit
only depending on the depth
of the gulf or lake and the duration Of
time during which 2 constant supply of
the eyapOrated water is furnished. In
this way the salt deposits of WIHzka,
Strassfurt and Speremberg, from 1000 to
5000 feet thick, hGve been formed and
similar process on Q smaller scale may be
daily observed in the Dead Sea This
sea has several rivers emptying their
waters into it, but no outlet, and aS the
Jordan, Its main tributary, contains o
large quantity OF salt, this is deposited
on the bottom OF the lake; constant
evaporation making room for new sup
plies. A similar process Of depOsitipg
may be observed {: the Elton & Dodge
lakes in Russia, the location of which Is
much like the Dead Sea. By eYapOra-
ton the saline solution is Concen-
trsted on the surface, aud be
cause Wei9htier, sinks TO the bottom de-
posting first gypsum, then the common
salt, and at last chloride of potassium
and the salts CT magneSia, which lessen
the faculty of the solution to keep the
common salt, and, of course, contributes
O continual deposit Of common salt This
is the usual manner in which salt Is
obtained either by natural or srtidciai
evaporation.
In salt works very frequently only
solution of the common salt is mined.
Though gypsum, snsydrid sud the salts
of magnesia are generally the companions
of salt deposits, and if found they are found
in the order described above, mingled
by volcanic eruptions. The still
more valuable companions of the
common SALT the salts of potassla
and magnesium, furnishing excellent fer
tlIzers and carrying brOmides, are more
rare because generally covering the
original salt deposits they are easily
swept away by rain unless protected by
circumstances. ASSAYS OF sslt Wster
found in our country have been made
within our knowledge, but the bitter
taste of the Pecos water and that of
several salt springs indicates the presence
of magnesis and the probability that de-
posits of chloride of pOtassia will be found
with it. Railroads will introduce capital,
the country will be explored, and those
hidden treasures will furnish main
factor In the development Of Tom Green.